Attachment for a reading rate controller



Feb. 11, 1958 w. J. KEYES ATTACHMENT FOR A READING RATE CONTROLLER Filed Jan. 17, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTQR WILLIAM J. KEYES ATTORNEY Feb.- 11, 1958 w. J. KEYES ,3 5

ATTACK-DENT FOR A READING RATE CONTROLLER Filed Jan. 17, 1955 2 Sheet-Sheet 2' Fig. 4

IN VENTOR z: :7 H9 6 WILLIAM J xsrss ATTORNEY United States Patent-O ATTACHMENT FOR A READING RATE CONTROLLER William J. Keyes, Plattsburg, N. Y.

Application January 17, 1955, Serial No. 482,103

4 Claims. (Cl. 35--35) The present invention relates to an attachment for a reading rate controller and has for an object to provide a device of this kind which can be readily and easily attached to and detached from the controller without the necessity of altering or making any adjustments in the conventional controller.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an attachment of this character capable of being used in connection with any conventional type reading rate controller, but is especially adapted for use with the controller Model #TDL manufactured by the Three Dimension Company, Chicago 41, Illinois, as illustrated in Design Patent No. 155,718, granted October 25, 1949, to George K. Lewis and assigned to the Three Dimension Company.

The shortcoming of this machine is that the bin or space provided for the matter to be read is too shallow and too narrow to accommodate any more than a few pages of a book at a time. Heretofore, it has been necessary to separate the book to be read into single pages. This practice has been found to be undesirable as it results in the mutilation of the books, some of which are costly and diflicult to replace.

It is an object of this invention to eliminate this undesirable practice by providing an auxiliary receptacle capable of being adjusted to accommodate books of different thicknesses and material width.

The present invention contemplates the provision of an auxiliary or attachment shutter adapted for removable connection to the handle of the masking shutter on the reading rate controller so that the auxiliary shutter will travel downwardly at the same rate of speed as the controller masking shutter over the pages of the open book which is supported within the receptacle.

The present invention also contemplates the provision of a device of this character which includes a base having means for supporting the reading rate controller and the attachment in cooperating relationship and fixed against movement relative to one another so as to preserve such relationship during the entire operating period of the controller.

An aim of the present invention is to provide an attachment of this kind in which resilient means are employed to hold the book in its open position without interfering with the turning of the pages as desired.

A further aim of the present invention is to provide an attachment of this nature comprising relatively few parts which are easy and inexpensive to manufacture and in which the cost of maintenance is negligible as there are substantially no working parts to wear out.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention will be hereinafter more fully described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Figure l is a perspective view of the device with parts brokenway and parts in section constructed in accordance with the present invention and applied to a reading rate controller,

2,822,626 Patented Feb. 11, 1958 Figure 2 is a sectional view takenon the line 2?2 ,of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a bottom perspective view of the auxiliary or attachment masking shutter,

Figure 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the attachment looking towards the controller,

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4, but. looking in the opposite direction, and

Figure 6 is a sectional view takenonthe line 66 of Figure 5.

Referring more-particularly to the drawings, 10 ,gen-

erally indicates a conventional reading rate controller which may be of the type illustrated in Design Patent No. 155,718, granted October 25, 1949, to George K. L ewis,, Patent No. 2,662,307, granted December 15, 1953, to Archie J. McMaster and Patent No. 2,632,258, granted March 3, 1953, to Clifford G. Erickson. The controller 10 is supported by four feet 11, one of which is located near each corner of the controller. There is provided a bin or space 12 for receiving and supporting the matter to be read which is illustrated as a printedpage 13. An inclined masking shutter 14 having an upstanding handlelSis moved downwardly over the page 13 to block off from the view of the observer the printed matter on the page 13 progressivelyline byline. The rate of speed of the shutter 14 may be selectively controlled. The driving means and control means for the shutter are not shown, butthe shutter is driven at different speeds by frictional contact with different axial areas of the surface of a motor driven conically tapered roller. The speed of the shutter is adjusted by a speed control dial or knob 54. .on the right hand side of the controller which slides the conically tapered roller across the point of contact with the shutter.

The attachment of the present invention comprises a base 16, a receptacle generally indicated at 17 and an auxiliary or attachment maskingshutter 18. The base 16 may be made of any suitable materiaLsuch as threefourths inch plywood board and is oblong in shape and of sufficient size to support the controller 10 and the receptacle 17. A plurality of sockets 19 open through the upper face of the base 16 and correspond in number to the feet 11 of the controller which they receiveuto orient the controller with respect to the receptacle 17 and to prevent the controller from walking or creepingf on the base. It will be noted from Figure 1 of-the drawing that the controller 10 occupies the-right ,handside portion of the base 16 and the receptacle 17 occupies the left hand side portion of the base, thus leaving access to the on/off switch 53 and speed control knob 54 located on the right hand side of the controller. Adjacent its forward edge part, the left hand side portion of the base is cut away to form a recess 20 defined by a front wall 21 which extends upwardly and forwardly, a straight rear wall 22 and a pair of side walls 23.

The receptacle 17 comprises side Walls,24 and 25 and a front wall 26 connecting the side walls 24 and 25-,at their forward ends. The upper surface'ofthe side walls are inclined downwardly and forwardly so that theorear end portions of the side walls are of a greater height than their forward end portions. The forward endportionrof each side wall 24 and 25 has a depending extension 27 which is received by the recess 20 and is secured to the adjacent side wall 23 by screws or the like 28. The forward faces of the side walls 24 and 25 and their extensions 27 and the front wall 26 are inclined to correspond to the inclination of the front wall 21 of the recess 20 with which they engage. The rear face 29 of each extension 27 engages the rear wall 22 of the recess. The lower edge of the rear end portion of each side wall 24 and 25 rests upon theupper face .of the base 16 rear,- Wardly'of the recess 20.

Each of the side walls 24 and 25 has formed on its inner face a series of longitudinally extending downwardly and forwardly inclined parallel spaced apart grooves 30. The angle of inclination of the grooves 30 is substantially the same as that of the shutter 14. A plate 31 for supporting a book 32: in open position is adapted tobe received selectively by cooperating'pairs 'of grooves 30 in the side walls 24 and 25. The plate may be made of any appropriate material, such as plywood board one-fourth inch thick. border to facilitate the insertion and withdrawal of the plate into and from the grooves, the plate has a handle 33 upstanding from a reduced rear end portion 34 of the plate. The rear ends of the grooves 30 open through the rear edge of the side walls 24 and 25 and the rear end of the receptacle is open to permit theeasy insertion=and withdrawal of the plate 31. The forward ends of the grooves are closed by the front wall 26 of the. receptacle so that the forward leading edge of the plate will abut the wall 26 and thus the plate will be held in proper position. As can be seen from Figures 4 and of the drawing, the lower end portions of the two lowermost grooves 30 of each side wall extend into the recess 20. Such an arrangement of grooves makes it possible to provide a greater depth for the reception and support of the books and other material to be read than does the shallow bin 12 of the controller so that books of considerable thickness can be accommodated by the receptacle 17 and thus the necessity of tearing books apart is eliminated.

Although the book 32 will remain open in most cases, or can be held open by the hand of the observer, it is advantageous to provide means for holding the pages of the book in fiat open position so as to leave both hands of the user of the device free. For this purpose, a flexible element 35, such as a thin wire, a clear catgut strand, a nylon thread or similar material, has one end portion formed into a loop 36 through which extends a fastening element 37, such as a nail for securely anchoring the looped end of the flexible element to the outer face of the side wall 25. From its looped end, the element 35 extends through a passageway 38 formed through the side wall just above the uppermost groove of the side wall 25. The element extends across the middle and above the book 32 and the plate 31 and passes through a passageway 39 formed through the side wall 24 just above the uppermost groove 30 thereof. From the passageway 39, the flexible element extends downwardly along the outer face of the side wall 24 and passes through a passageway 40 formed through the lower portion of the side wall 24 and is entrained by a roller or sheave 41 rotatably mounted on a spindle 42 which in turn is carried by a bracket 43 secured to the side wall 24. The lower portion of the side wall 24 is cut away as at 44 to provide a space for accommodating the roller and its bracket. The free end portion of the element 35 after passing beneath the roller 41 is wound partially around a conventional type typewriter spring 45 and has its free end secured to the spring by a rivet 46 or the like. At 47 is generally indicated a conventional type ratchet and pawl arrangement for controlling the tightness of such a conventional typewriter spring 45.

The auxiliary masking shutter 18 is made as light in weight as possible and may be formed of hardwood, plywood, plastic, alloys of aluminum, or the like. The shutter 18 comprises an elongated thin narrow shank portion 48 and a head 49 which may be formed integrally with the shank portion or formed separately therefrom and secured to one end of the shank portion in any suitable manner.

The head 49 has formed therein a socket 56 which opens through the lower face of the head and is of substantially the same size and shape as the handle 15 of the controller shutter 14 so that when the head @9 is positioned over the handle 15 and the latter is received by the socket 50 there will be a tight frictional grip therebetween. The other end portion of the shank 48 rests upon and is supported by a rod 51, the opposite end portions of which are embedded in blocks or pillars 52 which are secured to or formed integrally with the side wall 24. The blocks 52 are positioned at the forward and rear ends of the side wall 24. The rod 51 may be made of chrome or any other suitable material and may be of any desired diameter, for example, one-fourth inch diameter.

In. the use of the device, the user or observer will set the controller by turning the speed adjustment knob 54 on the right hand side of the controller until the indicator shows the desired rate of speed at which the shutter will travel. The book 32 or other reading material will be placed upon the plate 31 which will be disposed in the proper pair of grooves 30 to accommodate the book properly. The auxiliary shutter 18 will now be positioned with the socketed head 49 engaged over the handle 15 of the controller shutter 14 and the shank portion 48 which extends from the upper portion of the head 49 extending above and across the book 32 with the free end part of the shank portion resting upon the rod 51. The shank portion of the auxiliary shutter 18 is of such a length that its free end portion will rest upon the rod 51.

The rod 51 and the upper part of the head 49 when fitted upon the controller handle 15 lie in a substantially horizontal plane which is higher than the plane of the controller and receptacle 1']. Since the one end of the shank portion 18 extends from the upper part of the head 48 and the opposite end rests upon the rod 51, these are the only parts of the auxiliary shutter which contact the controller or receptacle 17, so that friction and drag of the shutter 18 are reduced to a minimum and a negligible additional load is imposed on the driving mechanism for the shutter 14. This is a highly desirabie result as the rate of speed of the moving masking shutters must be that speed at which the controller is set to operate so that the observer can accurately time his reading rate of speed. The auxiliary shutter 18 will be moved in perfect unison with the controller shutter 14 progressively downwardly line by line over the printed pages of the book 32.

The sockets 19 cooperate with the feet 11 of the controller and the recess 2% of the base 16 cooperates with the receptacle to orient the controller, the receptacle and the auxiliary shutter 18 to proper operating position and to keep the various elements from walking or creeping to prevent misalignment of the parts.

When it is desired to turn a page of the book 32, the flexible element 35 will be pulled away from the book a sufiicient distance to permit the turning of the page. This withdrawal of the element 35 is made possible by the spring 45 and when the withdrawing force is removed from the element 35, it will snap back under the influence of the spring 4-5 to its position in which it holds the book open. If it is desired to use the controller without the attachment, the auxiliary shutter 18 may be detached from the controller shutter 14 by simply lifting the socketed head 45? from the handle 15.

It is obvious that various changes and modifications may be made in the details of construction and design of the above specifically described embodiment of this invention without departing from the spirit thereof, such changes and modifications being restricted only by the scope of the following claims.

What I claim is:

1. An attachment for a reading rate controller having a masking shutter adapted to move downwardly over a legible page comprising a base having a recess in its forward portion, a receptacle having a front closed wall, an open rear end and a pair of side walls secured at their forward ends to said front Wall, said side walls having depending extensions adjacent their forward ends extending into said recess, means for securing said extensions to the side walls of the recess, said side walls having cooperating pairs of longitudinally extending inclined vertically spaced apart grooves the lower ones of which have their lower end'portions extending into said extensions and recess, a member for supporting a book in open position for selective insertion into the pairs of grooves through the open rear end of the re ceptacle, a handle on said member, and a shutter overlying the book and adapted to be operatively connected to the controller masking shutter to be moved over the book at the same rate of speed as the controller shutter.

2. In combination, a reading rate controller having feet thereon and a masking shutter disposed at an angle for movement downwardly over a legible page at a preselected rate of speed and provided with an upstanding handle, a base having sockets therein corresponding to the number of feet on the controller for receiving said feet and a recess in the forward part thereof, a receptacle having a variable depth bin for supporting therein books of ditferent thicknesses comprising a pair of side walls inclined downwardly and forwardly and having downwardly directed extensions projecting into said recess and secured to the side walls of the recess to locate the receptacle alongside the controller, cooperating pairs of downwardly and forwardly extending vertically spaced apart grooves in said side walls, the angle of inclination of said grooves being substantially the same as that of the controller masking shutter, and a plate selectively received by the pairs of grooves, a sup porting rod on the side wall of the receptacle remote from the controller, and an auxiliary shutter having one end portion resting upon said rod and having a socket on its opposite end for tightly fitting over the handle on the controller shutter.

3. An attachment for a reading rate controller having a masking shutter adapted to move over a printed page comprising a receptacle for a book, a shutter overlying the book and adapted to be operatively connected to the masking shutter of the controller to be moved over the book at the same rate of speed at which the controller masking shutter moves, a hold-down element having one end secured to the receptacle and extending over the open pages of the book to hold them in open position, a typewriter spring secured to the receptacle, the opposite end portion of the hold-down element being partially wound around the spring and having its free end secured to the spring so as to permit the element to be withdrawn from the book to allow turning of a page of the book and to cause the automatic return of the element to its page holding down position, and a ratchet and pawl arrangement for controlling the tightness of the spring.

4. An attachment for a reading rate controller having a support for a printed page and a masking shutter adapted to move over the printed page comprising a receptacle for a book separate from the printed page support and adapted to be positioned at one side thereof, an auxiliary shutter overlying the book receptacle and adapted to be operatively connected to the masking shutter of the controller and to extend laterally therefrom to be moved over the book in the receptacle at the same rate of speed at which the controller masking shutter moves and in a path spaced from and substantially parallel to the path of movement of the controller shutter, and supporting and attaching means for holding the controller and the book receptacle in predetermined relative side by side positions so that the auxiliary shutter will be maintained in its said path of movement, one end portion of the auxiliary shutter being adapted to be connected to and supported by the controller masking shutter and its opposite end portion being narrow and guidingly supported by the receptacle at a point remote from the controller shutter, and said points of support constituting the sole support for the auxiliary shutter so as to reduce the frictional resistance of the auxiliary shutter to movement by the controller masking shutter, whereby the auxiliary shutter will be caused to move at substantially the same rate of speed as the controller masking shutter.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,265,924 Oerter Dec. 9, 1941 2,568,577 Alexander Sept. 18, 1951 2,605,558 Lehner Aug. 5, 1952 2,632,258 Erickson Mar. 24, 1953 2,662,306 McMaster Dec. 15, 1953 2,662,307 Simpson Dec. 15, 1953 

